Lawyers tend to take very seriously their duty to keep their own client’s confidential information — otherwise known as secrets — to themselves. But guess what: They get a little fuzzier on the question of whether that duty extends to the clients on the other side of a case, for example in a divorce or other civil case, or in a criminal case. And in a particularly ugly example of how this can play out, the State of Washington’s Latino/a

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) just published its first-ever report summarizing the “Characteristics of Individuals Requesting and Approved for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).” The report supplies demographic information about people who requested DACA between August 2012 to September 2013 and were approved by January 2014, in these categories: age range gender country of birth marital status state of residence Citizens of Mexico are, to no one’s surprise, the largest pool of applicants by far, followed by El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.

Sometimes what’s going in in the headlines becomes all too personal. That’s what happened for me recently, when a friend called to say that her cleaning woman from El Salvador was in a panic, having received word that her sisters had been arrested by immigration authorities after crossing the border into Texas. They’re apparently part of the flood of young people fleeing countries beset by violence, attempting to cross the Mexican border into the United States. The first question then becomes,

This is part of my “Why Attorneys are Scumbags” series Los Angeles attorney has been recommended for a six-month suspension for posting digitally doctored photos to her official website. The case concerns Svitlana Sangary, who for two years featured dozens of realistic images of her posing at parties with the likes of President Obama, the Clintons, vice president Joe Biden, former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Nick Lachey on her site. (The link to the page has since been removed,

Get the word out there that police may not search your phone without your consent or a warrant, thanks to Riley v. California. (Wikipedia here, SCOTUS opinion here, OYEZ project link here). Here are two lock screens for iPhone and Android. Download them and install as lock screens on your smart phones. For the iPhone For Android While you’re at it, turn off location services.

A few weeks ago, an anonymous internet user was able to acquire and subsequently extract a website blacklist used by Germany’s Federal Department of Media Harmful to Young Children (Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien [BPjM]). This un-hashed list was posted to the user’s Neocities blog, along with some analysis of the blacklist’s contents and a rundown on the minimal protective efforts used for the list. The actual blacklist is much more extensive than what’s published here. In fact, as is noted

The solidarity surcharge (Solidaritaetszuschlag) is an additional fee on income tax, capital gains tax and corporate tax in Germany. This means that the solidarity surcharge is to be paid by every natural and legal person that owes one of the above-mentioned taxes in Germany. Why did the German Government come up with that fee (it is not a tax, it is a fee, Lol)? As West and East Germany united, it was clear that the poor communist East Germany could not sustain

The U.S. immigration laws contain numerous grounds upon which non-citizens, including green card holders, may be deported back to their country of origin. There are several reasons for the U.S. immigration authorities to deport an immigrant – that is, send the person back to his or her country of origin. One of the most obvious is that the immigrant simply did not have a right to be in the United States to begin with, having crossed the border or otherwise

Can relatives come to the U.S.? It depends on how the family member is related. Many people in the United States have family members living in other countries, and wonder whether they can bring them here. It’s a myth that if one immigrant settles in the United States, that one can get green cards (permanent residence) for the whole extended family, and so on. The truth is both more limited and more complex. Who You Can Help Immigrate You can

Find out who is eligible for U.S. citizenship and how to apply. U.S. citizenship gives a person as many rights as the U.S. has to offer; for example, the right to vote, petition for family members to immigrate, and live abroad without losing the right to return. For these reasons, citizenship is not easily obtained. To become a U.S. citizen through the process known as naturalization, you must first have a green card (permanent residence) and then meet other requirements,